Homeroom Headhunters

Gr 5–8—Expelled for starting a fire at his school, Spencer Pendleton has just transferred to Greenfield Middle. In trouble with the hapless assistant principal from the get-go, Spence is recruited by a hidden Tribe of runaway kids who live deep within the school, sanctimoniously inflicting vengeance against former tormentors. Peashooter, the Tribe's seething captain, is a serious reader: Call of the Wild, Peter Pan, "The Most Dangerous Game." But it's his willful misreading of Napoleon that tips off Spencer that this revolution might not be so pure. Their campaign culminates in the gym with the entire school poisoned via a tainted holiday lunch, devolving into a miserable free-for-all of flatulence, vomit, and diarrhea. The mood is sometimes oppressive. Kids in the Tribe are not merely resentful of bullies; they swing from sneeringly condescending to gravely hostile toward everyone. Other children are cartoonish "werekids," "stupid rodents," lemmings, and cattle. The threat of real violence is always imminent, as though Wayside School were about to give way to The Hunger Games. One of the Tribe loses a fingertip to a table saw. While the core story is compelling, something is lost in the details. Much is made of Spence's asthma, but it will ring false to anyone with the condition. His parents are separated and Dad is distant, but readers never see much to make Spencer sympathetic. He seems oppositional and irreverent without any motivation. This is the first volume in a trilogy; perhaps more exposition will follow.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA